Dynamics of student interactions: an empirical study of orienteering lessons in physical education

Introduction: Many studies in physical education (PE) have sought to identify and categorize the modes of student interaction in order to gain greater insight into the nature of cooperative activity. More others recent studies have examined how modes of interaction evolve on the basis of the modes of collective activity that they generate. These studies have shown to describe and explain the interactions among individuals and the processes they generate, which then lead to the construction, deconstruction or reconstruction of different interaction modes. Although some studies have sought to describe the dynamics of student interactions, very few have quantified these dynamics. By doing so, however, researchers might gain a new perspective on student interaction modes that inspires new designs for teaching in PE, thereby having professional impact. The present study extends this research by investigating the dynamics of student interaction, with a focus on the emergence of interaction modes during orienteering lessons. For this purpose, the study was conducted within the methodological framework of course of action theory, which is an effective approach for examining activity in natural situations to provide insight into the experience of activity from the actors perspective.

Method: The study was conducted in two classes of seventh-grade students (about 12 years old) in which 16 students volunteered and were available for post-action interviews immediately after the lessons under study. These volunteers were placed in eight affinity-based dyads. The teachers planned orienteering lessons at similar levels of difficulty and duration but modified the lessons across a range of contextual features. Two categories of data were collected: (1) data from audiovisual recordings as the students searched for the checkpoints and (2) verbalization data during the post-action interviews with the students. The data were processed in two steps: one qualitative, the other quantitative. The qualitative step consisted of processing the data of the student experiences to characterize their interactions in the three different contexts. In the quantitative step, the data from the first step were graphically represented to depict the interaction dynamics within the student dyads.

Results and discussion: The qualitative analysis showed the emergence of three modes of student interaction shared across each learning context: co-construction, confrontation and delegation. The quantitative analysis revealed the percentages of the different modes of interaction and therefore characterized the interaction dynamics. Our results showed that the interaction dynamics within the dyads were both unique and similar in the task contexts in terms of both ratios of change and distribution. Results are discussed across two major points of interest: (1) the observation of the same interaction modes whatever the context yet with quite different dynamics and (2) proposals for PE teacher interventions.     

竞技健美操托举与配合动作的创新性

托举与配合动作作为竞技健美操艺术评判的重要内容,已凸显出特有的艺术魅力。然而在现阶段,它的创新却是制约我国竞技健美操成套艺术价值提升的瓶颈。文章论述了托举与配合动作的本质特征,采用录像观察法对近三届世界健美操锦标赛成套动作中的托举与配合动作就影响动作的空间因素、时间因素、方法因素和审美因素进行分析,指出改变与重组各因素是创新的重要方法。在创新中,时空的快速转换增添惊险性,方法的综合运用体现复杂性,造型的独特创意展示唯一性,各因素的变异与重组激发创新性。     

Effect Analysis Using Nonlinear Structural Equation Mixture Modeling

In this article, we present an approach for comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of interventions based on nonlinear structural equation mixture models (NSEMM). We provide definitions of average and conditional effects and show how they can be computed. We extend the traditional moderated regression approach to include latent continous and discrete (mixture) variables as well as their higher order interactions, quadratic or more general nonlinear relationships. This new approach can be considered a combination of the recently proposed EffectLiteR approach and the NSEMM approach. A key advantage of this synthesis is that it gives applied researchers the opportunity to gain greater insight into the effectiveness of the intervention. For example, it makes it possible to consider structural equation models for situations where the treatment is noneffective for extreme values of a latent covariate but is effective for medium values, as we illustrate using an example from the educational sciences.     

论美国高等教育制度与国家价值观的互动关系

美国大学蕴育的学术自由、独立自治、崇尚民主等精神,培育了美国的核心价值即民主、自由、平等、法制等理念。该理念又深刻影响着美国高等教育的发展方向和历史进程。美国以国家价值观为依据,以建立多元化高等教育体系为平台,以立法为手段,不断推进教育机会均等,保护学术自由和大学自治传统。高等教育的不断发展与完善又强化了人们对国家价值观的认同。正是这种国家价值理念和高等教育制度发展的一致性和良性互动,才铸就了美国高等教育今天的成就。     

整合式教学模式在远程开放教育中的应用

远程开放教育为许多无法接受传统面授教育的学习者提供了一种灵活、开放的教育形式。然而,目前很多开展远程开放教育的机构只是把网上教学和面授教学简单混合,没有为学习者建立起有效的学习环境。为了改变现状,本文建构了整合式教学模式并采用定性分析方法进行了实证研究。在整体设计、有效资源、技术支持、交流互动四个条件的支持下,整合式教学模式通过整合导学辅导、课堂面授、网上教学、参观及实习的优势,缓解成人学习者工学矛盾,有效解决资源不足及交互不充分等问题。     

Parental support of numeracy during a cooking activity with four-year-olds

While research demonstrates the importance of numeracy-related activities performed at home for young children's mathematics achievement, few studies involve observational studies of the processes which support children's mathematical learning at home. On this premise, this study reports evidence from numeracy-related interactions between parents and their four-year-old child during cookery sessions at home. Numeracy group parents who received instructions to incorporate additional mathematics into the activity provided significantly more numeracy guidance and also created more opportunities for their children to practice advanced mathematics. Comparison group parents provided enough numeracy guidance to complete the recipe but rarely provided extensive or advanced numeracy guidance. Children in the numeracy group generated significantly more correct math responses during the activity than comparison group children, though there were no significant differences on the post-test. The findings suggest the need to raise parental awareness of opportunities to support and encourage mathematics in activities at home.     

英语演讲中预制语块功能探究

预制语块作为形式、语法、语义的统一体,具有特定语用功能,适用于交际语言教学。文章通过分析英语演讲的语言特征,提出英语演讲中常用预制语块主要为话语手段语块和社交互动语块。话语手段语块可用于组织演讲语篇,社交互动语块则用于与听众保持良好互动关系。掌握预制语块的语用功能知识能帮助演讲学习者准确、得体地使用英语与听众交流。     

微观政治学视角下师生交往中力量的交互作用

师生交往相对于师生关系而言,更强调师生双方的主体性与平等性。文章从微观政治学视角认识师生交往,认为师生交往是建立师生关系秩序的活动,这些活动以主体双方的利益为基础。师生交往中所产生的力量交互作用对主体双方的影响具有不确定性与双向性。文章旨在通过分析师生交往中的力量交互作用机制,有针对性地提出减少师生冲突、构建和谐课堂的建议策略。     

Looking through ethnographic eyes at classrooms acting as cultures

In this article we used an orienting framework of interactional ethnography to make visible classrooms acting as cultures. We examined the interactional patterns from two different classrooms as participants jointly negotiated and constructed meaning. We first demonstrated how participants began to construct a classroom culture in the first weeks of school. Next, we examined how taking up an ethnographic perspective assisted a teacher candidate to successfully enter an ongoing classroom culture. In the last analytic sequence, we followed the discursive practices surrounding a fifth grade student who re-entered an ongoing classroom culture after an absence of four months. The results showed that using ethnographic skills of observation and interpretation assisted both the teacher candidate and the returning student to become communicatively and culturally competent members, by recognising the social and academic patterned practices that were already taking shape through the classroom interactions.